Davide Zappacosta has signed a one-year extension to his contract at Chelsea and moved to Roma on loan until the end of January.
The pacy Italian international has made 52 appearances for Chelsea, half of them in the Premier League. He scored in spectacular circumstances on his Stamford Bridge debut, against Qarabag in the Champions League, and also netted a fine goal when Stoke were the visitors to SW6 later in 2017.
The 27-year-old full-back has won the FA Cup and Europa League with us since then. He was an unused substitute at Wembley in May 2018, and played 10 games in our victorious European campaign last term, appearing as a late substitute in the big win over Arsenal in Baku that sealed our triumph. He had brought up his half-century of Chelsea appearances in the semi-final second leg success over Eintracht Frankfurt, impressing during extra-time.
Signed from Torino on the final day of the 2017 summer transfer window, Zappacosta has been capped 13 times by his country for whom he has appeared alongside club team-mates Jorginho and Emerson Palmieri. Six of those appearances have come since he joined the Blues.
He joins a Roma side who finished sixth in Serie A last season and reached the last 16 of the Champions League. They will be competing in the Europa League this time around under the guidance of Paulo Fonseca, who replaced former Blues boss Claudio Ranieri over the summer.
Zappacosta’s 12-month extension takes his contract at Chelsea through to June 2022. Good luck in Rome, Davide!